Spilka wants Senate presidency, but only if Rosenberg exits

Thursday

FRAMINGHAM – State Sen. Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, will seek to become Senate president if Stanley Rosenberg does not return to the leadership post he temporarily vacated earlier this week.

Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, stepped down as president pending the conclusion of a Senate ethics investigation launched Tuesday in response to allegations of sexual misconduct that four men made against his husband.

“I do hope that he is able to return,” Spilka said of Rosenberg, in an interview with the Daily News Thursday. “We have a process now. My feeling is let the process take its course, see what the outcome is.”

Spilka, a 12-year veteran of the Senate, praised Rosenberg’s management of the 40-member body, saying he had promoted transparency and empowered individual senators to share in leadership.

But if Rosenberg cannot return to the presidency, Spilka said she would be able to “hit the ground running” and continue his practice of shared leadership. (Despite her interest in becoming Senate president, Spilka denied rumors that she had called colleagues seeking support for the position over the weekend.)

“I love the Senate,” Spilka said. “I am very aware of the relationships between the House and Senate, between the administration and Senate, and I believe that you need a strong person as Senate president.”

Spilka is chairwoman of the powerful Senate Committee on Ways and Means, which oversees the state budget. In that role, she meets individually with every senator to discuss state spending priorities.

At least two other state senators have publicly expressed interest in the presidency: Eileen Donoghue, D-Lowell, and Linda Dorcena Forry, D-Boston. State Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, is also reportedly eying the job.

Spilka first ran for office in part because she felt MetroWest wasn’t getting an equitable amount of state education funding. She later found that senators from the western, southern and northern parts of the state felt the same about their regions.

As Senate president, Spilka said she would advocate for regional equity in state spending on education, transportation and other initiatves.

State senators elected Harriette Chandler, D-Worcester, the majority leader, as their acting president on Monday, after meeting all day behind closed doors.

“It was heartbreaking,” Spilka said of Monday’s deliberations. “We worked and really discussed a lot of the difficult aspects of what was happening and set up a process that I feel very comfortable and very good about.”

Asked if Rosenberg was right to temporarily step down, Spilka said, “There were various options. That’s what he wanted to do. I believe he felt like it would help the investigation be full and fair.”

Three men told The Boston Globe that Rosenberg’s husband, Byron Hefner, had groped their genitals, while a fourth said Hefner had kissed him without permission. They spoke to the newspaper on the condition of anonymity.

The men – a lobbyist, a policy advocate, a Beacon Hill aide, and someone described as working on Beacon Hill – said that Hefner boasted about his sway over Senate policy, the Globe reported.

Rosenberg, who has denied that Hefner has any influence over the Senate, is the subject of the ethics probe into whether he may have broken any Senate rules. He has said that his husband is seeking treatment for alcohol abuse. Rosenberg has denied prior knowledge of the allegations.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office have said they are prepared to launch criminal investigations into Hefner’s conduct should accusers come forward.

Spilka said the Legislature needs to do more to address sexual harassment and assault in the workplace. She is on a newly formed working group of roughly eight senators that is considering policy changes in that regard, including a possible independent hotline for victims.

“It’s clear the Senate and the entire Statehouse needs to do more to prevent sexual harassment, potential sexual assault, on employees, on people who come to the Statehouse, people who work with the Statehouse,” Spilka said. “We can set up better protections, that was crystal clear.”

Information from The State House News Service was used in this story. Jonathan Dame can be reached at 508-626-3919 or jdame@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @DameReports